1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to temporarily and decoratively altering garments.
2. Description of the Related Art
Clothing is generally mass produced in a variety of sizes. Most casual clothing can be purchased in a range of sizes, and requires no alteration. On the other hand, some formal clothing is manufactured to be tailored when purchased to more accurately fit the purchaser. For example, slacks are made with very long legs so that purchasers of different heights having roughly the same waist size can purchase the slacks and have the leg length altered before wearing them. These alterations are effectively permanent because in order to have the slacks resized, the wearer must be return to the tailor, get remeasured, and if sufficient fabric is left (e.g., in a cuff), have the legs length altered.
Although generally acceptable, this system of permanent alteration does not very well address the different contexts in which a pair of slacks are worm. For example, different styles of shoes may be worn that effectively change the desired length of the slacks (i.e., high heels may require longer slack legs than flat shoes). In that case, the slack legs are either made for heels (and therefore are too long for flat shoes), or they are made for flat shoes (and therefore too short for heels). Custom tailoring each pair of slacks for each pair of shoes, while possible, is not very economical.
Furthermore, clothing for children quickly gets outgrown as the child gets older. Thus, hemming, altering, or folding up sleeves, pant legs, etc., of children's clothing is often used since much of the time clothing for children is purchased with “room to grow.” Moreover, children often like to fold or alter clothing for decorative purposes. However, folding or other altering may not always be visually pleasing, nor does it always provide the capability of holding the clothing securely in place.
Various devices are used in conjunction with clothing. For example, it is known to attach a safety pin to a piece of clothing to hold it up. However, such pins are not very attractive and can be difficult to attach if multiple folds or thick fabric is involved. Also, tie tacks are known, which serve primarily to hold a tie close to the shirt of the wearer. Of course, a wide variety of buttons and pins have been attached to clothing for decoration or identification of the wearer, e.g., decorative pins or nametags.